My Last Post

The first snowfall was today, I took Myah outside for this picture!

****update, I have had a few of you ask me to at least keep my blog open so you can look back on my posts, so I have decided to remove the private setting****
Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know that I am closing my blogs this week, I am super busy with life and really feel guilty when I don't post. I am simplifying my world and this is just one little area that I spend way too much time on. My kiddies and hubby deserve my undivided attention. Trust me, I will do my fair share of checking in on blogs but I spend alot of time on the computer with my photo business and frankly need a break from the computer. Thanks for allowing me to come into your lives and hopefully inspired a few of you along the way! See you around!
Love ya all! Leslie

Happy Halloween!

Time In a Bottle

Twenty years ago today my cousin Monica was killed tragically in an auto accident. Please stop by my other blog at Myah's Days to read about my heartfelt plea against drinking and driving. I pray that I can prevent just one person from getting behind the wheel after they have been drinking. Please help me spread the word!

Decorating With Hydrangeas

I am in love with hydrangeas, when we first moved in I planted a Pee Gee species off of my front porch. Last year I planted another one to flank the other side of my porch, I think it will look really nice when it finally catches up to the other one. This one bush has given me several bouquets through the years, I like to cut them around the beginning of September when they are still a pretty lime green, sometimes I can get them at just the right time and a bit of a plum color will line the edges of the delicate petals. My neighbor Pam has given me some of her gorgeous Annabelle's and I love to make a huge bouquet with them. Hydrangeas are very easy to dry, sometimes I will hang bunches upside down but this year I just picked them put them in a vase and let them dry naturally. I thought I would share some pictures from this years "crop", I usually have plenty and give them away to visitors because although I love them, I don't want them everywhere, my son has severe allergies and I try to limit alot of dried flowers sitting around to collect dust. I cleared my buffet in the dining room the other day of all fall items and went for a more clean look, this huge bouquet of hydrangeas looks so pretty in there next to my white dishes. I like being all set up for dinner parties this time of year. I was looking at the P*ttery Barn catalog the other day and got inspired to do this. I also hung a shelf that I have had for years on an awkward wall in my kitchen. It was too long so my hubby cut a few inches off of the ends for me and now it fits perfectly, I love giving new life to an old favorite. It is the perfect place for my vase of this years hydrangeas. I usually pick my flowers when the heads are starting to get a little cripsy, they only take a few days to dry.

Our Complete Family has tagged me with this award. The rules are to tell six random things about yourself and then pass it on to six people. I have seen this one make the rounds so I am not passing it on to just a few of you, if you have not received it yet, here is your opportunity, take it and run, you ALL impress me with your creativity!
So here it goes:
1. I met my hubby while we were in elementary school, we started dating when I was 15 and he was 17, married when I was 23 and he was 25. Stayed together the whole time.
2. I am a mother of a 13 year old son who is our biological son and I have a 3 year old daughter from China who we adopted at a year old. Yes I have lost my mind on several occasions lately with a toddler and a teenager! I hear Knick Knack Paddy Whack playing in one room and Nickelback in the other!
3. I am a neat freak, I love everything in its place, although it rarely is, I try to keep it that way! I am in love with my labelmaker!
4. I started a wee little photography business 2 years ago. I have never taken a class but need to desperately! I love pictures and always have since I was a little girl.
5. I am not a very good cook, I grew up with a younger sister who is a fabulous cook, I always cleaned up the messes, she hates to clean and I love it! We were a good pair! When I know how to make something it always tastes good but if I were to use a new recipe I always screw it up! This usually involves a few trips back to the grocery store.
6. Since I was a little girl I have always sat on top of the furnace registers to get warm. I still do this on cold winter days. My sister and I used to fight over who got to sit on it first when we got home from school. I hate being cold!

More Fall Decor

I love to decorate my front porch for fall. I always put out corn stalks, a bale of straw and pumpkins. The leaves are really starting to change colors now after the hard frost this week and everything is looking so pretty. I love visting the pumpkin patches and cider mills while wearing my cozy sweaters! I love fall!!!

A Bloggy Award and I won a Giveaway!

Thank you to Shannon at Bless Our Nest for passing along this award to me, the feelings are mutual as I love her blog and her ideas. I am passing it along to Jessica.. I love catching up with her, especially now since she is nearing the end of her pregnancy and will soon be a mommy for the first time to little Harbor.

I was so excited to win the giveaway at my friend Barb's place A New Chelsea Morning. I won the new Chris Tomlin cd. It is wonderful and before I even got to listen to it my hubby had it in his car! I was amazed to find out I had won because I won her giveaway a few months ago of a Steven Curtis Chapman cd. She said I must be really lucky because she uses the random number generator, maybe I should play the lottery! Thank you Barb!

Friendship Books

Sherry's Book:

Kym's Book:

This year a few of my dearest friends have turned 40, including my dear hubby. I have a reputation for taking lots of pictures through the years. I always have my camera on my and everyone hates it when I make us pose for group shots but I have never regretted taking these pictures. I have gone through my albums several times through the years and used my pictures for many projects. Whether it be for a cd with pictures put to music, photo albums and yes, many times I have been the one in charge of doing the funeral picture boards for family members. Morbid I know, but that is life and when people want pictures, it is me they call.

So it is no surprise that I have lots of pictures with me and my friends. So I decided that when their 40th birthdays came around that I would do something with the pictures that I have taken through the years. I decided to try and make these little books and use my favorite papers, flowers ribbons and embellishments. I have so much fun making these! This past week I sent my good friend Sherry hers and I couldn't post pictures until I knew she had it in her possession. She moved to Wisconsin last year and I wish she still lived closer!

I also made an album for my dear friend Kym in January. They aren't perfect by any means but they are meant to be a keepsake of the many fond memories that we have shared through the years. Good friends are so hard to come by and who is more deserving of something special than the people that are there for you in good timses and in bad, through sickness and health, oh wait a minute, those were my wedding vows! Oops! I guess they apply to friendships as well! I hope these inspire you to do something special for your good friends as well. They are so fun to make!

(Sherry's album was made from a pre-made chip board album by Bo-Bunny, many of the papers are by Basic Grey)

I Love WS!

Although I rarely buy anything at Williams S*noma I sure love that store! I especially like to visit during this time of year as we enter the months that are all about food! They have such cute things for Halloween and I am in love with everything they have for Thanksgiving. Here are a few examples of my favorites this season.

Ragumuffin Garland

I told you yesterday about my ragumuffin garland inspired by the Nester, well, I found some clips and a few photos to put in it and I hung it last night in my bedroom on my mirror. I am happy with how it turned out! I put pictures of our family and both of my kiddos in it along with a few crystals that came with Myah's chandelier. It was so easy, I had all of the ribbon and material all I had to do was cut the strips and tie them on my natural jute. So simple, I am not sure it is as nice as what the Nester makes but it makes me happy!

Pumpkin Facelift

If you are a reader of my family blog at Myah's Days you already know that I had a bad week last week. Long story short, my hubby's car broke down just out of the blue, it needs a new engine of all things! So I was without wheels for a few days and let me tell you, I get a little stir crazy when I know I can't go anywhere. I am perfectly fine staying home all day in my sweats when I know I have a car in the garage and I know I can jump in a go someplace anytime I want. But just knowing that I didn't even have that option kind of freaked me out! Believe me I have plenty to do around here to keep me busy, but I decided to tackle a few projects that have been in the back of my mind for a while. Nothing major just little things that add up. First of all I made myself a ragamuffin garland like the Nester makes. I had extra scraps of material and ribbon laying around and at my sister's garage sale a few weeks ago she had lots of scrap material for sale so I snatched up the pieces that would go in my garland. It is not finished yet, I need to get some drapery clips and hang some cute doo dads from it, but I love it!

I also had some pumpkins in the basement that I had bought for a dollar at a garage sale earlier in the year. They were the fake kind that you find at the craft stores. I really wanted some white/creamy pumpkins to put above my kitchen cupboards, I remembered that these were downstairs so I got out my craftpaints made a "custom" color, and painted them. I love how they turned out! It was a 15 mintue project! Even better! I also cleaned out my craft cupboard and sorted all of my scrapbook papers, embellishments, and supplies, I got rid of anything and everything that I will never use.

I also went to the new HG's yesterday. Wow, what a beautiful store. It is brand new, building and all, I have been to quite a few HG's in my day and this is my favorite by far, and it is so close! I went with my neighbor and we could not believe the crowd. It was insane! I was amazed at how many men were there with their ladies. Brave souls! I bought Mark a new spice rack, he has been eyeing them for a while, he loved it and put it to use last night with some steaks on the grill. The new HG's gets 2 thumbs up from me!!

Home Goods Grand Opening!

For those of you who live near me, you know who you are, the new Home Goods is opening tomorrow morning at 8 am! I am so exctied. Just about everything in our house is from Home Goods, now it is only 8 miles away! When my good friend Sheri was at my house one day, my hubby called to inform me that we were getting a HG in our city, I started screaming, Sheri was sitting next to me and said, "oh my goodness, who is pregnant?" I guess I kind of over reacted!! I am going tomorrow with my neighbor, I will let you know what I think of the new place!

Giveaway Winner and Member of the P.O.O.P.I.E club!

Hobby Lobby has the prettiest fall picks this year, I tucked these into my ivy wreath on my hall tree.
This small fake plant sits on top of an armoire in our basement, I love trailing fakes that look real. I picked this one up last year at Michael's for $2!
This one I call Fern in an Urn. I love putting plants into my urn collection. I have had these urns for years and am always changing them. Fakes don't look so bad when you put them in an urn. They feel more classy that way.
See another urn. This is the area we fondly call the shelf above the front door. It is very tall in our foyer so I gathered these cool twigs from the spot across the street from my parents house where I used to play while I was growing up. I was always in the woods exploring. I added a tiny nest and a few eggs, this stays up all year. I love to add some fake moss to the top of the urns, then you don't see the junk I put in the urn to make everything stand up properly.
This is our hall tree in the foyer, I had this cool simple and airy garland for summer and I just added a few picks from Hobby Lobby to dress it up for fall.
Everyone needs a fern in an urn on top of the potty. I also like to add a little ribbon to the bottoms of my urns.
This is our coffee table in the family room, I don't know why I call it that not one person in this house drinks coffee, maybe I should call it the Mountain Dew/Sprite/Sippy Cup table, that would make more sense. Anyhow, my favorite topiary sits on this one with my fake apples that the kiddos always throw at each other, see if I used real stuff, I would have apples guts all over my house!
Here is the only fake ivy I own but it is a muted pretty ivy that I just can't stand to get rid of, actually I wish I had more of it, I have moved it all over the house. I put some more of my $1.50 picks from H.L. in it for fall. Love my rooster! I call this one topiary under glass. I love topiaries and this is the tiniest little one, I put it under the pretty cloche that I got for my birthday a few months ago at Tuesday Morning. Looks so cute in my cupboard next to my old books.
I love these dried hydranges from my yard. This crop was from about 3 years ago, I love their natural color, see, they are in another urn! Gosh, I am starting to realized that I might need some help with my urn addiction! These sit high upon my office bookshelf.
This is also in our office, I love this spiraly topiary, it really looks real, I put it in a pretty silver bowl-ish container from my sister. Think outside of the box, try putting your arrangements in your favorite vase, bowl, basket or urn of course.
I really felt uncomfortable buying melon colored tulips but they really match my pretty curtains so I went for it. I got them all for $12 at Joannes last month on their 70% off clearance sale. See the topiaries behind it, they have been in my family for a long time!
Here they are close up, I bought these at Homegoods when we moved into this house 8 years ago, I have used these all over the house as well. I think if you love something enough, you have to keep it no matter what others say. They look so proud standing next to the huge rooster my sister gave me.
Our hall tree holds this pretty ivy topiary, I know it is ivy and all but it is gorgeous in real life, I inherited this from my sister as well, she used to work at Ethan Allen and this is from there. So you know she was expensive! I like to tuck little things inside her for the season. I love the ribbon she is wearing, I got this huge roll last year at Costco for like $8 and I still have a ton left over, so pretty!

The Nester is having a fun get together today over at her place. P.O.O.P.I.E stands for People Opposing Objectionable Pretend plants In the Environment. She cracks me up! That is really just a "fancy" way of saying she hates fake ivy's and stuff. However she is not opposed to using fake flowers/greenery/naturals that look nice and "real". I totally agree with her. There is a place and time for those fakey looking ivys, blue roses,( the ones with the fake rain drops on them are REALLY precious), brass containers, anything with fake pearls on fishing line, you know the stuff I am talking about. Usually found in bathrooms of the local gas station to make it look "pretty" and give the room some "warmth". Ladies, it is time to free yourselves from the bonds of plastic flowers and open up your world to greenery that actually looks real. Or at least tasteful. I love real flowers and greenery but I do not have a green thumb, and have killed every plant that I have ever tried to grow indoors. Besides, I love my fakes. I am not obsessed with having greenery all over my house but I belive a few perfectly placed items can really add something to your decor without screaming "fake". Here are a few examples from around my house.
Oh and I cannot forget the winner of my giveaway was Blissful Nikki, she has the cutest blog! Thanks for playing along!